Hong Kong Phone Merger Gets OK

AP Online
07-03-2000
Hong Kong Phone Merger Gets OK

HONG KONG (AP) -- Shareholders of Hong Kong's oldest telephone firm, Cable & Wireless HKT, approved its merger plan Monday with Internet investment group Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd., clearing another hurdle for Asia's biggest telecom merger.

Cable & Wireless HKT Chairman Brian Smith said 99.9 percent of minority shareholders voted in favor of the union, based on the value of their shares.

Its parent, London-based Cable & Wireless PLC, controlling 54 percent of the Hong Kong firm, voted earlier for the deal.

Other major shareholders, including China Telecom, holding 10.8 percent, and the Hong Kong government, holding about 7 percent, also approved.

Pacific Century Cyberworks shareholders approved the deal last month.

Pending approval at a hearing on July 25, viewed largely as a formality, trading in shares of Cable & Wireless HKT will be suspended on Aug. 1 and the merger will be complete on Aug. 10, when the phone firm's stock is withdrawn from listing on the exchange.

Trading in shares in the new entity, to be called PCCW-HKT, will begin Aug. 15, said David Prince, Cable and Wireless HKT's deputy chief executive.

PCCW, owned by Richard Li, the billionaire son of Hong Kong's wealthiest man, Li Ka-shing, beat rival Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. in a deal valued at $36 billion to $38 billion in cash and stock when it was announced in late February.

The new company was valued at $37.2 billion based on closing prices Friday, said Simon Smith, the phone company's investor relations manager.

PCCW will pay Cable and Wireless HKT shareholders either 1.1 of its own shares for each share of the phone company, or 0.7116 PCCW share plus 93 cents per share.

A pending tie-up between PCCW and Australia's dominant telecom firm, Telstra Corp., will close before Aug. 10, helping reduce PCCW's debt level to $5.5 billion from $6 billion after the merger, Prince said.

In April, Telstra agreed to pump $3 billion in cash into PCCW to form two separate ventures with PCCW, pooling the mobile and cable assets of Telstra and Cable & Wireless HKT.

If all HKT shareholders opt for the cash-and-stock offer, CyberWorks would hold 36.4 percent of the new entity, while Cable & Wireless PLC's stake would amount to 19.7 percent.

PCCW hopes to expand its broadband network in Asia and began offering this month an Internet portal and interactive TV service, called Network of the World, through a set-top cable box. It also has stakes in a host of Internet-related companies.

Cable & Wireless HKT, once Hong Kong's local and long distance monopoly, has been suffering under the government's efforts to liberalize the telecom market.

The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press All Rights Reserved

Qld: Three injured in beach accident

AAP General News (Australia)
02-13-2000
Qld: Three injured in beach accident

In Queensland's south-east, three young people have been flown to Nambour hospital
with spinal injuries after a four-wheel drive vehicle overturned on a Sunshine Coast beach.

A spokesman for the Energex rescue helicopter says the driver lost control of the vehicle,
which overturned on the beach 20km north of Noosa at about 1 o'clock this afternoon.

The injured were two 23-year-old women and a 29-year-old man.

The spokesman says they're in a stable condition, and that a fourth person in the vehicle
escaped injury.

AAP RTV jfs/tso/sub

KEYWORD: BEACH (BRISBANE)

2000 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

VIC: Lib state director pledges to stay on in wake of defeat

AAP General News (Australia)
12-12-1999
VIC: Lib state director pledges to stay on in wake of defeat

MELBOURNE, Dec 12 AAP - Victorian Liberal party director Peter Poggioli says he will
stay on despite the disastrous swing against the Liberals in the Burwood by-election.

"I have a contract with the Liberal Party that extends six months into next year and
I intend to honour that," he told AAP today.

Earlier, political scientist Dr Nick Economou suggested Dr Poggioli was in trouble
as state Liberal Party director.

"I think Dr Poggioli has got more to worry about than (Liberal leader Denis) Napthine.

This is yet another failure - how many more can the Liberals tolerate?" said Dr Economou,
senior lecturer in politics at Monash University.

Voters yesterday delivered former premier Jeff Kennett's seat of Burwood to ALP candidate
Bob Stensholt with a swing of 10.25 per cent.

Mr Stensholt snatched the seat from Liberal candidate Lana McLean in the eastern Melbourne
electorate that had been held by Mr Kennett for 23 years.

Dr Poggioli told AAP the Burwood result was "disappointing but not very surprising".

"Any time a government goes into a honeymoon period, it's very difficult for Oppositions
to win by-elections," he said.

The party would continue with the rebuilding process," Dr Poggioli said.

"We certainly won't be retiring to lick our wounds," he said, adding the Liberals would
listen to the community and develop policies in response to their concerns.

"Lana McLean worked very hard for the party and she was the party's choice," he said.

"Obviously, the amount of publicity that came out in the course of the campaign which
cast her in a bad light was damaging."

AAP sj/er/it

KEYWORD: BURWOOD POGGIOLI

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

2000 census among key issues at CBC Conference

Washington Afro-American
10-02-1998
2000 census among key issues at CBC Conference

By James Wright

Washington AFRO Staff

The upcoming 2000 census was among the main topics discussed at the 28th Annual Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Conference which was held at the Washington Convention Center Wednesday, Sept. 16 through Saturday, Sept. 19.

"We had a big undercount in 1990," said U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek (D-Fla.). "About five million Blacks were not counted nationwide, as opposed to 1.3 million Whites.

"That had a powerful impact in terms of how much government money went to the Black community and how much representation we have in government bodies."

Mrs. Meek, along with U.S. Rep. Eva Clayton (D-N.C.), announced that the Census Bureau will advertise in the Black media and make an allout effort to reach Blacks by going to churches, organizations and educational institutions.

The census takes on more importance, says U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), because of the strong Republican presence in the local, state and national electorates.

"We have Republican governors in states where many Blacks live," she said, "and we know that they do not have a vested interest in seeing that Blacks get a fair shake during reapportionment."

The issue forums and braintrusts that deal with financial security, getting access to capital, using the tax code to the advantage of middle and working class Americans as well as using the Internet to make money were all popular during the conference.

Other popular topics had to deal with health, affirmative action, African-American images in the media, and the race initiative.

On Saturday, Sept. 19, Rep. Waters convened a well-attended braintrust on the CIA-Drug Connection, while U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) had political experts explain the importance of the November elections.

The exhibit hall, on the top floor of the convention center, had on display government agencies, corporations, social service organizations and entrepreneurs who showed their wares to the largely affluent crowd. On one side of the hall, there was an extensive health screening clinic, where one could be tested for vision, heart disease, breast cancer, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS.

Clinton administration officials such as Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman, Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater and Deputy Commerce Secretary Robert Mallett participated in panels related to their departments.

Special events took place around the conference. The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation saluted three departing spouses of CBC Members on Wednesday, Sept. 16. They were: Roscoe Dellums (wife of former congressman Ronald Dellums), Elaine Flake (wife of the former congressman Floyd Flake) and Jay Stokes, wife of U.S. Rep. Louis Stokes (D-Ohio).

The spouses were saluted at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

The National Political Congress of Black Women had their annual brunch on Sunday, Sept. 20, with some of the leading Black women political activists in the country.

U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) presided at the brunch. Speakers included Coretta Scott King, Dr. Dorothy Height, president emeritus and chair of the National Council of Negro Women, and U.S. Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Calif.), who saluted Black women state legislators.

Washington, D.C. officials who participated were: D.C. Mayor Marion Barry and D.C. City Council chair Linda Cropp (D). Honored were: D.C. City Councilwoman Hilda Mason (Statehood-At Large), Alma Powell and Elayne Bennett, and poet-author Maya Angel???u. The latter brought the crowd cheering to its feet with her speech. Also on the program were singers Melba Moore and Robin "Sugar" Williams.

Ethnic NewsWatch SoftLine Information, Inc., Stamford, CT

TAS: Convict penchant for tattoos trapped a colonial lag

AAP General News (Australia)
02-03-1999
TAS: Convict penchant for tattoos trapped a colonial lag

(WITH ke CONVICTS)

By Don Woolford

HOBART, AAP - On October 29, 1844, police arrested a well-dressed man, with plenty of money
in his pockets in a Hobart street.

When he was stripped, the police found his body covered with tattoos - punctured dots
stained with ink and gunpowder.

They included a pirate's skull flag, Christ on the cross above two praying figures, a large
star, and the Tree of Knowledge encircled by a serpent and watched by a Knight Templar.

On his breast was a woman representing Hibernia and the …

NSW:Bail for accused NSW puppy thrower

AAP General News (Australia)
12-29-2011
NSW:Bail for accused NSW puppy thrower

SYDNEY, Dec 29 AAP - A Sydney woman accused of throwing her puppy out of a window onto
a cement driveway 15 metres below has been granted bail.

Lily Maihi, 24, of Kingswood is charged with torturing, beating or seriously injuring
an animal after allegedly throwing the eight-month-old puppy out of her window following
a heated argument with her partner.

She appeared in Parramatta Local Court on Thursday via video link where her lawyer
successfully applied for bail, although the Crown opposed it.

The police prosecutor described the facts as very disturbing and said there had been
a level of premeditation, in that Maihi's argument with her partner was about dog faeces
on the balcony.

The prosecutor said the puppy was unable to move when it hit the ground and required
surgery for his injuries.

Her lawyer said the fact that the victim of the crime was a puppy had aroused "perhaps
in all of us, certain emotional responses".

In granting bail, Magistrate Andrew George said there was no question that this was
a particularly unpleasant case.

"The community would be horrified by the allegations that have been made," he said.

But he stressed that this was a bail application, which is not considered on the basis
of how horrible an offence might be, and regardless of how many pictures of "doey-eyed
puppies" were presented to the court.

He ordered Maihi to report daily to police, to reside at her Kingswood flat and not
to attempt to own any animal.

He adjourned the case to Penrith Local Court on January 18.

AAP mjs/jjs/afr/de

KEYWORD: LEGAL: MAIHI (PIC AVAILABLE)

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Humans not causing climate change, look at Hitler: MP

AAP General News (Australia)
02-25-2009
Fed: Humans not causing climate change, look at Hitler: MP

By Cathy Alexander

CANBERRA, Feb 25 AAP - An opposition MP says humans are not causing climate change,
and pointed to Adolf Hitler as an example of how scientists can be wrong.

Liberal MP Dennis Jensen's comments come days after his leader Malcolm Turnbull promised
a greener climate change policy than the government's.

Dr Jensen cast doubt on the apparent scientific consensus that humans are affecting the climate.

"Albert Einstein was very much criticised by Hitler, and Hitler actually had a group
of 100 top scientists in …